Opinion: Why Valentine's Day is Better on Long Island

Many years ago I wrote these words on a napkin with a borrowed Bic ballpoint pen: "Love is a vein of energy that flows in the air like a river; when you fall into that river you feel the power of a billion suns." There were no computers or smart phones, or anything quite like that yet but the words are still printed in my memory forever.

There is no place like home, and if you are reading this, your home is most likely on Long Island. Long Island is a unique place with a sense of mystique. It has a culture all its own with a gritty toughness that defines being a Long Islander. What it also has is a long history of amazing love stories of Long Island couples who ventured into their futures amidst the hundreds of towns, villages and and other communities that make up Long Island. Remember, no one lives in Long Island, they live life "on" Long Island.

Years ago on Valentine's Day I would write/dream-up a Montauk love story for the now defunct Montauk Pioneer. It was an easy task: Every year I'd watch people fall in love and just sort of take a little of this and mix a little of that and boom, a new love tale. The common thread was it was always happening on Long Island. There are not many places in the USA where you can take in a morning sunrise during an ocean beach walk like you can on Long Island with its almost 100 mile seashore. The pink/golden glow of the sky over the ocean just after sunset is always a religious experience and who hasn't seen a huge full moon rise over the ocean horizon that stunned you?

Some believe that Valentine's Day can be rough on single grown women (or men) who are without a special someone. They sometimes go out in groups and commiserate, usually over glasses of wine and then perhaps a few shots. Most men look at Valentine's Day as a day to purchase the perfunctory and required flowers, cards and heart shaped chocolates.

Yet, Valentine's Day can be so much more, especially if you still feel the flame of that vein of energy that love can be, if you let it. In the end everything is a state of mind, and living on Long Island sets you up to have a special state of mind every morning. Long Islanders love living on Long Island. Not being a native Long Islander I still cannot ever recall anyone who was born on Long Island ever saying, "I hate Long Island." I know they love this island, with its quirky traditions, history, events, cultures, diners, malls and crazy curvy highways.

So finally we get to why romance and why Valentine's Day is better on Long Island. The reason is the vein of love energy is out there. The island has romance powers, it makes you smile, it soothes you when we all must be sad and cry. Finding love can be like finding a dog at a animal shelter. The dogs are all in cages and they are all waiting to be selected, to be loved and to give their affection totally. They just need someone to walk in and be able to commit to being there for them. Sometimes it can be that easy, other times . . . perhaps not so much.

This Valentine's Day be with someone. It's just a day, but what the day symbolizes is the stuff that makes a forever a most happy forever.

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Photo courtesy T.J. Clemente.